UFCW case - Bell v. Executive Committee, Civ. No. 01-236 (D.D.C.)(ESH)

This ERISA action, successfully settled for $10 million in May 2003, was filed in January 2001 by the Gottesdiener Law Firm, PLLC and two other firms on behalf of some 7,000 participants in the United Food & Commercial Workers International Union (“UFCW”) Pension Plan for Employees (the “Plan”). Plaintiffs accused the Plan’s trustees, the Executive Committee, and two former professional advisors to the Plan, Investment Performance Services, LLC (“IPS”) and Clifton Group Investment Management Company (“Clifton”) for their role in certain allegedly ill-advised, poorly understood and badly managed “hedging” investments made with Plan assets that caused the Plan tens of millions of dollars in losses. The settlement provided for payment of $10 million by the Defendants’ insurer. The payment, net of authorized deductions, was made to the Plan and helped improve the Plan’s precarious funding status.